Switzerland’s largest single maker of Emmental cheese, Emmi, has offered to divert A-class milk usually for production of Emmental into industrial powder production. This is a measure to reduce pressure in the cheese market where prices for Emmental have remained low over this year. It was hoped that the international sales situation would improve with the coming of autumn. Instead, sales of one of Switzerland’s best-known cheeses have slumped even more, according to dairies in the country. Usually, around 5,000 tonnes of Emmental rounds are in store. This October it’s reported that the total is nearing 7,000 tonnes. Overproduction from the total 170 separately-owned Emmental cheese making plants is one reason. The increasing value of the Swiss franc in the international currency markets another. Emmental makers have long resisted production control, claiming that this has never helped prices in the past. But now, with a reported one third of all Emmental producers in financial difficulties, many are now willing to consider production quotas after all, according to the leading Swiss financial newspaper Handelszeitung.